Strength and Weakness
by darkwing7174
Summary: Partner story to Pitiful Human. Road meets up with Allen in the Arc and relishes in influencing his mind and twisting his morals like a puppeteer. But is she really the one in control? Road x Allen. Crit, reviews, and flames welcome.


"Please," She put a hand on his cheek. "_Please_." He tried not to look at her. But oh God, her eyes. She looked like she was going to cry. His right arm ached. Love, _love for the humans, _it coursed through him. He had to-- help her, save her. Her eyes pleaded with him and she clutched his arm tightly. It was the right arm too, and he hissed between his teeth.

"Allen Walker, I'm begging you!" she cried. His heart threatened to explode right there, but no…a tiny emotion slipped from her façade. A smirk. Waves of rage swept through him. _No_.

"_You_ are not a human!" he screamed. Allen flung Road off him, nearly spearing her with one of his demon claws. She crashed into the Arc wall, arms hanging limp like a broken marionette. Tyki looked mildly concerned, cutting a scathing look at Allen, but he went back to his food when Road started laughing hysterically.

"And you are not an exorcist," she sneered. "Don't you live to protect humans? Don't you live to prevent them from harm?" She was standing across the room, but it felt like she was smacking him across the face.

"You're a Noah, not a-"

"And _you_ are a Noah!" Her sharp yell cut him off. For the first time since he met her, he thought Road looked almost angry. But her features smoothed, morphing back into that sly grin he hated so much. "Ah, Allen…you're so easy to manipulate." Her magic saturated the air, and suddenly she was right in front of him again. "For being the strongest exorcist in the Dark Order, you sure are weak." He squeezed his eyes shut. God, she was right. Weak, so weak. Even with the Crown Clown he couldn't destroy one Noah. She cupped his face in her hands and his lips burned from her earlier kiss. Her hands were soft, smaller than Lenalee's. He let himself relish in their warmth. _They're_ _like child's hands_. Her hands fisted in his cheeks, nails digging into his face.

"Go easy on him, Road," Tyki voiced from the table. "It's a bit painful to watch you at your manipulative peak." Her nails sliced into his skin, and she pulled him close, close enough that their noses nearly touched.

"I admit, Allen Walker, you are strong. But I am older, and I am stronger," an almost sad grin twisted her features. "And I will break you, the Crowned Clown, God's loved one." She pressed herself to him, seizing his lips with hers for the second time. He groaned, at war with himself. _She is older, she is stronger_. And he was weak. She was the older Noah, and he the disgraced fourteenth. Her tongue traced the corners of his lips and her child's hands fisted in his hair, even yanking out a few strands. He moaned in her mouth, crushing her to him with his demon arm. His right hand found her hip and he gripped it tightly, whether to push her away or pull her closer he wasn't sure. Road wrapped herself around him like a vine clinging to a wall. Like he was the only one keeping her here, the only one keeping the Arc stabilized. But no, _she_ was the one keeping the Arc standing…right? Allen was pressed against her, too, but he seemed like the one in control, the commanding force. She attacked his mouth with a new fervor. _I am Road Kamelot. I am older, I am stronger. I am the First Noah and you are nothing but-_

His tongue found hers and she gasped. Music, piano music flooded her senses, a dangerous, beautiful lullaby more powerful than even the Song of the Earl.

"_I am the Fourteenth,"_ a voice growled in her head as Allen's tongue dominated hers. "_You will not break me_." She swore she heard sniggering accompany the deep voice of the Noah, like a clown's laughter. Allen broke away from her, panting, and she nearly cried from the loss of the bittersweet music. Tyki glanced between the two, no longer amused. He had felt Road's power fluctuate, loosening its hold on the Arc. He was sure the Arc would destabilize right then, but a new power had seized it, a power much stronger than his own or even Road's.

Allen wiped his mouth and Road felt a tiny pain in her chest, like he was rejecting her. He ran from the hall of the Arc with new purpose. His friends were dying, he could help. He was the Fourteenth. _Lenalee, Lavi, Krory, Kanda, Miranda_..._Lets go home together._

Road stood frozen, hands still in the air where they had gripped his hair, his face, his long, lean body. She wanted the song, the Noah's Lullaby, in her head again and she hungered for his lips and the cynical laughter of the Clown.

"Looks like you lost that battle," Tyki mused, voice grim.

Maybe she wasn't the stronger one after all.


End file.
